I've had several requests to post what I'm eating over here, so here goes...

breakfast: Post brand cereal that looks like wheaties but is kind of sugar coated and has green seeds or peas (not exactly sure which) mixed in, with milk and orange juice, and instant coffee that's disgusting and full of sugar blech

snack: school gives us milk about an hour before lunch... tasted like rice milk, but apparently it is in fact cow milk. hmmmmmmm not sure about that one.

lunch: BEST meal of the day. Teacher who designs lunch menu is a dietician! Today was rice, some kind of soup that had some type of random veggies and kind of a fishy flavor, a pile of those petrified little somethings with eyes (SUPER CREEPY!!! I was horrified the first time I saw these, which was on the airplane coming over when they served lunch, but then when we had them at the school and I was sitting with the principal, I couldn't really refuse, so I tried... actually okay if you don't think too much about it...I will try to get the name of this so you can see for yourself yikes!), kim chi, apple slices, that wierd drink that I can't figure out if it's water or tea or watery tea, some kind of dark meat with a dumpling type thing that was definately NOT the potatoe I thought it was...

dinner: I cooked up a little rice and fried an egg, and put both of those on top of some lettuce and sprinkled bean powder on top. also drank some brown rice tea.


first day of school was stressful, tiring, very frustrating, and long...

I had to be there early because they have an assembly every monday morning with the whole school. I was just standing there trying not to look as spaced out as I actually was (Okay, after 1/2 hour of people talking in Korean I was seriously gone), when my co-teacher (aka the only other English speaker on the current face of my planet) tapped me and said "You introduce yourself now!" I was like HUH?

So feeling totally awkward, I went up on the stage and they gave me a microphone. I looked out at all the Korean faces in front of me, and couldn't help but think Wow! This is soo cool! I just spoke really slowly, said my name and bowed and thanked them for having me... I don't know if they really understood any of it, but I got a huge round of applause so I guess I did something right ha.

The lessons went fine, except that the kids are sooooooo noisy and talkative (but NOT in English). I am trying still to guage the role I am to take... I would manage the classroom and discipline the students MUCH differently than my co-teacher does, and yet I don't think it's really my place to be the one running the classroom and establishing disciplinary standards. After all, she is Korean and has been at this school for over 10 years or something like that... I think she knows the culture and the students waay better than I ever will. So, it's a matter of humbling myself and realizing that just because I would do something differently, doesn't necessarily mean my way is better. It's just different, and I need to learn to accept that in certain instances...

I was done teaching by the time lunch came, so I spent the afternoon preparing tomorrow's lessons. Lesson planning had to be put on pause for a faculty meeting at 4pm... where I again had to introduce myself to a crowd full of people who couldn't understand what I was saying. But it went better than I expected.

I started to get overwhelmed, because it took me so long to do ONE lesson plan. And I have 4 classes tomorrow (one 4th grade, and three 6th grade). I also started to get annoyed, because my current "office" is a desk in the library, where basically every student comes to hang out and be noisy and otherwise socialize. Play practice was in there today, too. I was like ahhhhhhhh my brain can't take any more people shouting in Korean!

I am honestly kind of bummed that I only teach as low as 3rd grade, but I still see the littlest ones in the hall, and they all hang on me and giggle. So fun, I just adore them. The older kids are a challenge, just as in any culture! But I know I will learn to love them eventually...

Yoon Jin (my co-teacher) told me she can take me to he hospital tomorrow afternoon to get my physical exam, and once that is processed I can apply for an alien reg. card and get moving forward here... open a bank accnt, get a phone, etc. She also surprised me by saying she wanted to treat me to dinner tom. night... I am excited about that :)

It was COLD here today. Very cold. I am starting to fear the winter!!!